VIRTUAL EXPERT GUIDED SERIOUS ROLE-PLAYING GAME FOR LEARNING COMMUNICATION WITH AUTISTIC PEOPLE

Role-play games have been developed to help individuals with autism spectrum disorders to learn social interactions with others. However, there is a lack of role-playing games that teach people without autism the necessary communication skills to engage and interact effectively with autistic people. This research aims to harness the latest technological advances in mobile computing, serious games and human-computer teaming technologies to create a virtual expert guided serious role-playing game to help people learn how to communicate with autistic people. It provides a virtual expert guided experiential and cognitive learning tool, consisting of instruction, play, review, and discussion, that helps achieve enhanced learning outcomes while enabling an independent-learning workflow. By making it available for both iOS and Android devices, it has the potential to help spread the awareness of autism and help create a more inclusive environment for autistic people at schools, universities, and communities.